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Tuesday, May 24, 2011

Diet during flare up

In the beginning before I made drastic changes to Liam’s diet I pretty much let him dictate what he wanted to eat within reason. The only area of food I did not budge on was dairy and high fiber foods. Liam’s first “flare up” started July 2010. He was diagnosed October 2, 2010 and after treatment the flare ended December 2010. This flare lasted 6 months. Liam was a great eater before the Ulcerative Colitis started. Little by little he started refusing to eat certain foods that he once loved. He stopped eating all beans, raw vegetables (except for tomatoes and cucumbers) apples with skin, and high fiber breads. All he wanted to eat was instant oatmeal, nitrate free hot dogs, scrambled eggs, pancakes, sausage, fruit snacks, smoothies and In and Out Hamburgers. Because he had dropped 7 pounds in 4 weeks, I just fed him whatever he wanted to eat. I worried about the lack of nutrients he was getting, but the doctors kept telling me to give him what he wanted.

I started tracking his food, per the advice of a friend who lives with Ulcerative Colitis. I started to see a trend. His typical day consisted of:

Breakfast:

Instant Oatmeal or Pancakes with Sausage

Snack:

Banana or Fruit Snack

Lunch:

Hot Dog or Oatmeal

Snack:

1/2 Apple no skin

Dinner:

Hot dog or Chicken with plain rice

Some days I could get him to eat plain chicken legs that were baked or barbecued or some slices of turkey. These foods must have helped with the pain he was in. I call them his comfort foods. Once his "flare up" ended the oatmeal and hot dogs became a food he refused to eat. He has had two little flares since his very first one and he goes back to the oatmeal and hot dogs. But once he is on the mend he refuses them again. I am not sure if this helps other parents, but if you don't know what to feed your kids during a "flare up", try the foods that I listed above.